


Swive

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Backstory, Discipline, Family, Father and Son, Gen, Provost's Dog, Spanking of a Child, Unintentional Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 22:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16355534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Gareth of Conte learns not to say swive.





	Swive

**Author's Note:**

> Please be advised that this story contains spanking of a child and use of a fictional swear word.

Swive

“Swive,” shouted Gareth when the tower he had spent a bell building collapsed under the weight of the crowing block he placed on it. He didn’t know what swive meant, but he had heard his father use it when his face was garnet with anger, and the word—shot from Gareth’s tongue—seemed a satisfying expression of the frustration boiling inside him. 

“What did you say, Your Highness?” Lunedda’s hands flew to her hips, a warning that they would land on his backside next if she didn’t approve of the answer he gave. Most people, Gareth knew, couldn’t strike a prince, but Mother and Father had granted Lunedda permission to spank him when he misbehaved, and she took full advantage of that. 

“Swive,” Gareth repeated, chin trembling with the uncertainty of whether it was better to attempt a lie or to be honest about an offense he didn’t understand. 

“That’s a vulgar word, Gareth.” Lunedda’s eyes snapped and her chest swelled like a bullfrog’s as she snatched Gareth’s wrists, tugging him unceremoniously over her knees. “Only very bad boys use it.” 

“Father uses it.” Gareth squirmed like an eel in his desperation to escape Lunedda as she lowered his breeches and undergarments to his ankles. She must be very outraged by what he had unwittingly said if she was punishing his bare bottom instead of spanking over his clothes as she almost always did. “How can it be bad or vulgar if Father uses it.” 

“His Majesty is king and not to be questioned.” Lunedda’s strong left hand pressed down on Gareth’s back, trapping him as her right hand delivered a series of smarting swats that made every inch of his rump smart as tears streaked down his cheeks. “You’re a little boy who’ll watch your mouth and do as you’re told unless you want to land over my knee again.” 

“I will, Lunedda.” Gareth clutched fistfuls of Lunedda’s dress to fight the temptation to shield his behind since Lunedda would only lift his hands away and give him a longer, harder spanking that would make sitting for his tutor’s lessons tomorrow uncomfortable. 

“If I hear you using that vile word again, you’ll be sleeping on your stomach for a week.” Lunedda finished her lecture and her spanking with a final searing smack that cut through the sound of Gareth’s sobbing. 

“I won’t use the bad word again, I promise, Lunedda.” Gareth was crying so much that he couldn’t comprehend his own response and doubted that his nursemaid could, but she must have been able to interpret enough of it that she restored his garments to their proper places and returned him to his feet. 

“Speaking of sleep, you’ll put your blocks in your toy chest and then go to bed now.” Lunedda’s stern glare discouraged Gareth from protesting that he wasn’t supposed to go to bed until another bell had chimed. Lunedda in a temper was not someone he wanted to argue with when his backside burned. 

“Yes, Lunedda.” Gareth sniffled, swiping at the snot streaming from his nose with his silk sleeve. 

“How many times must I tell you that wiping your nose on your sleeve is a mark of low-breeding, Your Highness?” Lunedda tutted as she pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped away his snot. “A handkerchief is tailor-made for that purpose.” 

“I beg your pardon, Lunedda.” Gareth knew how to reply to such a scolding as Lunedda slid his handkerchief back into his pocket. 

“Now you’re cleaned up, start picking up your blocks.” Lunedda gestured at the blocks that had scattered across the carpet of his nursery when his tower toppled. 

“Yes, Lunedda.” Gareth nodded miserably and began to shuffle around his nursery, gathering his fallen blocks and dumping them into his toy chest. He minimized his movements because bending over hurt, but in the end, he had every block back in the chest as Lunedda ordered. 

As Lunedda carried him into his bedchamber, Gareth rubbed at his bottom. When his touch brought more pain than relief to his rump, he gasped and pulled his hands away. His throbbing behind was even less pleased when Lunedda briskly removed his garments and changed them none too gently with his lamb’s wool nightshirt. Lamb’s wool was supposed to be soft as cream but it felt rough against his hindquarters. 

When Lunedda tucked him into bed without a kiss or a bedtime story so he would have no question that he was in disgrace with her, she blew out the candles on his nightstand and left him in the darkness to roll around on his mattress until sleep overcame him. Since even the goose feather mattress hurt his tender bottom, he lay facedown with his face hidden in pillows that muffled his renewed cries. 

His weeping faded into a gasp as his bedchamber door opened. Glancing up from his pillows in shock at the noise of someone entering unexpectedly, Gareth saw a candle casting a halo over his father’s tanned skin and auburn hair. 

“Lunedda tells me you said a vulgar word, son.” Father set the candle on Gareth’s nightstand and sat on the corner of Gareth’s bed as Gareth flipped on his side so that he could look into his father’s eyes as he offered his best defense against further discipline. 

“It was one I learned from you, Father.” Gareth hoped his golden brown eyes weren’t too watery to be taken seriously as they fixed on his father’s. 

“So it was.” Father’s gray eyes twinkled in the candlelight and Gareth grinned at the realization that he wasn’t in more trouble. “I shouldn’t have used it in front of you, and I won’t again just as you won’t until you’re at least sixteen.” 

“What does it mean?” Gareth’s gaze was wide with the mystery of what word could be so terrible to earn him such an awful spanking. 

“I’ll tell you that when you’re sixteen.” Father tweaked Gareth’s beak nose. 

“That’s a very long time from now, and I want to know now.” Gareth pouted. 

“Go to bed now.” Father kissed Gareth’s forehead. “The time will past faster if you get some sleep, my boy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Gareth's comment about Lunedda spanking him when he said swive.


End file.
